A Darker Return of the Green Ranger
by Dark Philisophe
Summary: A darker, more realistic take of the "Return of the Green Ranger" plot arc. As the Green Ranger, Tommy Oliver committed atrocities. His replacement forces him to face his past while trying to protect the future of his relationship with Kimberly Anne Hart.
1. Happy Late Anniversary

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I have any rights to use the Power Rangers franchise. The rights belong to Haim Saban and Saban Entertainment, of which I am not a part. **

**Warning: This fic contains language and themes that may be considered offensive. It is currently being rated "T" because teen shows such as "One Tree Hill" and "90210" can get away with such content and be referred to as a teen show. Nonetheless, if you are easily offended, I recommend that you do not read the following story as there is sexual content and strong language ahead. For those of you who plan to bear with me and read on, the rating might change if the content becomes too intense. If this happens, I will post a new warning and make it clear to my readers in the chapter before I change the rating. **

**A Darker Return of the Green Ranger **

**Chapter One: Happy Late Anniversary**

Kimberly Anne Hart smiled to herself as she felt a strong arm wrap around her stomach and pull her close to the strapping young man behind her. He leaned in gently and kissed the lobe of her ear before gently whispering to her. "Morning," was all he said. She didn't respond verbally but the attractive brunette did snuggle up a little closer to her boyfriend. "How'd you sleep?" he asked her in the same gentle tone.

"Good," she replied as she opened her chocolate brown eyes and rolled over to look at him. "How about you?"

Tommy Oliver simply leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips and then another on her forehead. "I slept well," he replied as his hand snaked around her body and to the small of her back. "I usually do after a monster attack." The short statement caused both of them to smirk and Kimberly rolled her eyes. The two of them had had a romantic one year anniversary dinner planned for the previous night but Lord Zedd had gone out of his way to ruin the evening. They had gotten to their dinner reservation too late to be seated. Every other restaurant they had tried had been completely full. The concert that Tommy had booked tickets for months previously had shut down because of the monster attack. By the time they finally got back to Tommy's studio apartment, it was very late and they were both tired from the monster attack. The two had simply changed into their night clothes and gone to bed.

"I am sorry about last night," the Pink Power Ranger told him as she reached up and pressed a finger playfully against his lips.

"Don't be," he responded before kissing the tip of her finger. "At least you got to spend the night here."

"But I do that all the time," she said with a shrug. "That was nothing special."

Tommy shrugged his own shrug in response. "I think it is," he told her. "Every night with you is special."

Kim sighed and shook her head at him. "My boyfriend, ever the romantic," she said with mock exasperation.

Tommy laughed and rolled over so that he was directly on top of her. The dog tags that he traditionally wore in memory of his father hung down from his neck and dangled in Kimberly's face. "You could break up with me," he suggested playfully.

Kim curled her mouth into a contemplating scowl and pretended to consider the option for a moment. "No thank you," she answered before grabbing his tags and using them to pull him into a deep kiss. The two laid there with locked lips for a moment before Tommy broke it off and began to softly nuzzle her neck. Kim wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and ran her hands up his bare back.

"Before we make up for last night," she said as he began to plant sweet kisses along her neck. "I want to brush my teeth." Tommy didn't stop kissing her and the Pink Ranger sighed with affectionate annoyance. "I will tickle you," she threatened.

Tommy stopped.

Reluctantly, the White Ranger rolled over, onto his back, allowing his girlfriend to get up. Kimberly kissed him on the cheek and threw the covers off before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She cast a loving look back down at Tommy, who sent the same gaze back at her.

"I'll be back in a sec," she told him as she stood up.

The Pink Ranger walked over to the counter where her purse sat idly. She opened the small black handbag and began to rummage around. Inside, she could see her wrist communicator, her power morpher, deodorant, a few random items that she had accumulated, and a toothbrush. She grabbed the toothbrush and started towards the bathroom. The door closed behind her, leaving Tommy alone in the apartment room.

With a weary groan, Tommy rolled out of bed and allowed himself to fall onto the ground. He caught himself with the palms of his hands and immediately began to do his morning push-ups, which he counted aloud. Once he reached twenty, he collapsed, rolled onto his back, and followed them up with sit-ups. Before he could finish his sit-ups, the bathroom door reopened and Kimberly re-emerged.

"Aren't you the hard worker," she teased as she walked back to the bed.

Tommy pulled himself onto the bed and sat at the edge facing her. "What can I say?" he asked humbly. "Can't go soft."

Kim walked over and placed one knee on the bed beside his leg. Tommy grabbed her bottom to support her and she pushed up and put the other knee beside his other leg, straddling him. "Wanna work out together?" she asked before kissing him. Tommy's only response was to deepen the kiss and make it more passionate. While one hand remained on her bottom, the other one slid under the dark green sweatshirt that she had borrowed from him to sleep in and up her back.

As Kim prepared to begin lifting the sweatshirt off, a familiar six notes beeped from their communicators simultaneously. They both stopped and sighed in genuine exasperation. "Damn," the Pink Ranger said as she got off of the edge of the bed, allowing him to stand as well.

The White Ranger walked over to his dresser and answered the call. "Go ahead, Alpha," he said as he opened his dresser and pulled out a pair of blue jeans.

"Tommy, Goldar is attacking Angel Grove General Hospital. You and the other Rangers need to get there as soon as possible!"

"Kimberly and I are on our way, Alpha," the leader of the Power Rangers stated, all traces of his sexual frustration gone at the news of Goldar's target.

He quickly changed out of his night short and into his jeans while Kimberly pulled on a pair of black pants and traded the green sweatshirt for a pink tank and black jacket. Tommy pulled a white tank on and stuffed his morpher into his back pocket.

"You ready?" he asked her.

"Absolutely," she responded as she pulled her morpher and communicator from her purse.

"It's morphing time!" he called out heroically.

Over at the Angel Grove General Hospital, Goldar paced through the lobby impatiently. The golden armored warrior gripped his sword tightly in hand as he kept a close eye on the hostages. Seven or eight staff members were lined across the wall, each with their ankles and wrists bound with thin strips of coil. Several Z-Putty patrollers stood over them, mumbling in their indecipherable dialect to one another. The entire lobby had been ripped apart. Goldar had smashed the computers and torn through the file cabinets in an attempt to locate his objective. Now, while he waited, his henchmen were scouring the building looking for the item that Lord Zedd had ordered him to procure.

"What is taking so long?" he asked himself aloud in his gravely voice. He turned to a nearby putty and growled angrily. "If your friends are wasting my time, I'll use their clay to sharpen my sword!" he threatened.

The putties in the room may not have been capable of responding in English but they understood the threat well enough and hoped against hope that their brethren upstairs would hurry up the search.

Before Goldar could wait too much longer, two jets of swirling energy descended into the room. The first was a magnificent hot pink color while the other glimmered of holy white. The two energy swirls landed and dissipated, revealing the Pink and White Power Rangers.

"Back off, Goldar!" Tommy said threateningly to the golden ape.

"Finally! I was getting bored!" the monster cried out as he held up his sword. "Where are the rest of your friends, traitor?"

"They'll be here," Kim assured him. "But we can handle you on our own, Monkey-brains!"

"I assure you that you're wrong, Pink Ranger!" he shouted as he ran towards the two Rangers.

Tommy and Kim quickly dove in opposite direction and performed summersaults to avoid the monster. Goldar's sword strike came down on the reception desk, cutting the giant gash in the wood. He pulled his sword free and turned to Tommy. The monster extended his off-hand towards the White Ranger and fired several bolts of energy at him. Tommy, with a motion that could barely be seen, drew his shortsword, Saba, and deflected the blasts so that they struck the walls harmlessly. Sparks showered down on the room but none of the hostages were harmed by Goldar's attack.

Kim quickly drew her blade-blaster and converted it to blade mode. She leapt into the air and came down at Goldar, poised to strike his shoulder. Lord Zedd's general knocked the attack away harmlessly with his sword and kneed the young woman in the stomach. Once she was doubled over, he elbowed her in the back and she went crashing to the floor.

Before Goldar could press his advantage, Tommy intervened and swung Saba violently at Goldar. The attack clipped the monster's shoulder and sparks burst from him. Tommy kicked his opponent in the head, which sent him sprawling back. He turned back to his girlfriend with a concerned, albeit hidden, look.

"You alright?" he asked her.

She quickly got to her feet and grabbed her blade-blaster from the ground. "Fine," she confirmed.

"Putties, finish them!" Goldar shouted at his men.

"I'll handle this! Save the hostages!" Tommy ordered.

The putties and Goldar all rushed the two Rangers. Tommy, fortunately, had an advantage. He had worked with Goldar and the putties before when he had been the Green Ranger. He knew their tactics and he knew how to anticipate their attacks. This allowed him to effectively dodge or deflect most of their attacks while dealing out a fair amount of damage on his own. Within a minute, the putties were defeated, leaving only Goldar and Tommy to fight whilst the hostages that Kimberly had just freed fled for dear life.

"Tommy!" the Pink Ranger called out now that there was no one to hear his identity. "I'm going to handle things upstairs!"

He didn't respond but she knew better than to distract him from his fight. The Pink Ranger left the White Ranger to do battle.

"Just you and me, Tommy," the golden armored warrior said with relish. "I had always hoped it would be me to take you down, traitor!"

"Give up, Goldar," he responded. "I've beaten you before. I'll do it again."

With that, Tommy and Goldar charged each other and the sword fight began. Their blades moved with such speed that it would be difficult for anyone outside of the battle to keep up. The two were both master swordsmen and neither was stupid enough to underestimate the other's abilities. They parried and dodged each other with grace but neither could gain a true advantage over the other. The thick armor-like hide that protected Goldar limited his mobility, making it difficult for him to keep up with the much more flexible and agile Power Ranger. On the other hand, Saba was a short sword and Goldar's blade was far longer. He had reach, allowing him to keep his foe at a distance.

Upstairs, Kimberly had just tossed the eleventh putty patroller that she had encountered out of an old lady's room. The Pink Ranger followed the putty that she had just thrown and planted her foot squarely on the large "Z" emblem on its chest, causing it to disintegrate.

"What are they looking for?" she asked herself aloud as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What were we looking for," a demonic voice corrected as a figure dressed entirely in black robes emerged from the room next to the one she had come from. "We found it." The figure looked up, revealing a face obscured by a golden mask. Despite the mask, however, the eye and mouth holes allowed Kim to see a creature with a horribly mutilated face. Scars and old injuries were completely visible. The very sight made her cringe.

"Who are you?" she demanded as she pulled her blade-blaster again.

"All in good time, Pink Ranger. All in good time. For now, you simply need to know that you Power Rangers lost today. We have what we needed and that has sealed your fate!"

"I don't think so!" she retorted as she threw her weapon at him. Before the blade struck the dark figure, he vanished in a haze of black and purple mist. The blade imbedded itself in the wall at the opposite end of the room. Kimberly tensed in frustration that she had left him get away. "Better help, Tommy she muttered."

By the time that she got downstairs, the Pink Ranger realized that that had been utterly unnecessary. The other four Power Rangers had arrived and now Rocky and Billy were fending off the golden ape with their Power Sword and Power Lance respectively. All five of the other Rangers noticed their final comrade enter the room.

"Let's put them together, guys!" Rocky called out.

"Don't bother!" Goldar said with a bit of pride in his voice. "Lord Zedd tells me that we already have what we need. I'll be leaving now."

With that, their enemy vanished in a flash of bright flames. The six Power Rangers gathered together. "Kim, are you alright?" Aisha asked.

"I'm fine," the Pink Ranger answered. "There wasn't much of a fight upstairs."

"We should get back to the Command Center," Tommy stated. "The police can handle it from here."

Up on the moon, in the dark fortress commonly referred to as the Moon Palace by Zordon and the Power Ranger, Lord Zedd and Empress Rita sat together on the large throne that stood in the very center of the lookout. The two evil lovers sat with a hint of mirth about them and Rita's human features radiated with pleasure. The dark figure that Kimberly had met in the hospital stood before them with crossed arms over his chest. If he felt any emotion whatsoever, he hid it well. He simply kept his scarred eyes on his two masters and waited patiently for them to address him. Goldar stood to the right of his two newly married leaders. He kept silent but unlike the dark figure before them, he did not do it well. A low growl rumbled in his throat and he shifted uncomfortably due to his impatience. After what felt like an eternity to the golden monkey, Rita stood up and walked over to the robed man.

"Did you get it?" she asked.

He simply nodded his head once. With that, he reached into the folds of his dark robes and pulled out a small vial of blood. The Empress of Evil took the vial and shrieked with laughter. "He did it, Zeddie!" she cried out as she raced back over to her husband.

"Are you sure that's his?" Zedd demanded as he stood up.

"Yes, Lord Zedd," the dark figure assured him. "That is the White Ranger's blood sample, just as you asked."

"Excellent!" the Dark Lord stated as he took the vial from his wife. "Shall I, my dear?" he asked her affectionately.

"Do it!" she replied vigorously.

"Wizard, are you ready?" Zedd asked.

"Yes milord," he answered.

If Zedd had proper facial features, he would have smiled. The Lord of Evil threw the vial down onto the floor and allowed it to shatter, causing the small amount of blood to flow across the floor. Zedd grabbed his staff from its post beside his throne and pointed it at the blood. At the same time, the wizard pointed his finger at the small pool. Jets of electricity shot from the tip of the staff and finger, striking the blood simultaneously. The charged blood lifted into the air and became engulfed in a blinding white light. Goldar and Rita shielded their eyes but Zedd watched as the light began to take shape.

"Tommy! Come forth!" Zedd cried out before he began laughing manically.

The light subsided a moment later. The blood on the floor was gone. It left no stain. Instead, a nude human male stood in its place. The naked man looked identical to the White Ranger. Every muscle was the same. The color of his hair and eyes matched perfectly. They could have been identical twins. The perfection of the clone made Lord Zedd chuckled to himself.

"Excellent," he repeated. "Simply excellent."

"How can I serve, my lord?" the clone of Tommy asked.

"Tommy," Rita said to him as she admired his physique. "You will be our Green Ranger and destroy Zordon's team of Rangers."

"Yes, Empress," the clone said with a nod. "I will go now."

"No!" Zedd, the Wizard, and Rita all shouted together.

"Patience, boy," the wizard urged as he walked up behind him and placed his black cloak over him for decency's sake. "Within the next few days, I will fashion a Power Coin for you. Once it has been completed, you will be the Green Ranger. Then you can kill the other six Rangers as soon as you want."

The clone took a moment to process this and nodded. "I wish to train," he stated.

"Goldar," Zedd said as he gestured for the golden ape to come forward.

"Yes master?" he asked as he kneeled before the two monarchs of evil.

"Take young Tom here to get some clothes. Once he is dressed, you may train with him. Try not to harm the new toy, though."

Goldar chuckled with his gravelly voice and stood up. "Come with me, whelp!" he ordered the clone. After receiving an approving nod from Zedd, the clone did as he was told and followed the general out of the room.

Once the two were gone, the Wizard turned back to his masters. "Empress Rita," he said urgently. "If I am to create a new Power Coin, I am going to need the Green Candle with which you stole the original Green Ranger's power."

"Of course, Wizard," she said with a nod. "Have Finster bring it to you."

"Thank you, Mistress."

Kimberly and Tommy walked back into his studio apartment together and tossed their things on the counter of his small kitchenette. The meeting at the command center had been a pretty standard debrief. Alpha and Zordon were looking into the attack to find out what Goldar had stolen. The Rangers agreed to stay diligent. It was nothing new.

The White Ranger walked over to his fridge and opened it, scanning the shelves for something to make the couple for a late breakfast. While he did that, Kimberly crossed over to the bed and collapsed onto it. "I would like one weekend that doesn't involve fighting monsters," she growled bitterly.

"If that's all we have to deal with this weekend, I'll be happy," Tommy informed her as he pulled a carton of eggs and refrigerated bacon from the bottom shelf before closing the door.

Kim sat up abruptly and shook her head. "Is one Friday night with my boyfriend so much to ask? Is a simple anniversary dinner so much?"

"I promise you that I'll make that up to you," he told her. "And how do you want your eggs?"

"Over easy. And you shouldn't have to make it up to me. There shouldn't be monsters attacking our city every ten seconds."

"If you don't want to be a Ranger anymore-,"

"I didn't say that!" she cut him off. "Of course I want to be a Ranger. I love the good we're doing for the world but I can't help but think that we haven't done any real good since we got our powers."

"How can you even say that?" he asked in a flabbergasted voice as he cracked an egg on the side of his counter and dropped the contents into a skillet. "Rita and Zedd would have conquered this planet two years ago if we hadn't been there."

"I know. I know. I'm just saying that it's not really enough. First Rita showed up. She sends a monster. We stopped it. She sends a monster. We stopped it. We never did anything to stop her from sending more monsters. And maybe we did save a lot of people from Goldar and King's Sphinx and whatnot but how many people are killed every time we have to call the zords in the city? How many people are killed every time we don't get there fast enough? Fact of the matter is, I think we should have gone after Rita from the beginning."

Tommy stopped to soak in everything that his girlfriend had just said. It was very out of character for Kim to express such deep thoughts about their lives as Power Rangers and it made him more than a little depressed that she felt that they hadn't helped any since getting their powers. On the other hand, she had a point. If Zordon had sent Jason, Zack, Trini, Billy, and Kim to fight Rita as soon as she had been freed from her imprisonment, she never would have recruited him as the Green Ranger and he never would have set the Dragonzord loose on Angel Grove. Approximately two hundred people had died that day. All of them would still be alive…He shook his head and tried to focus on breakfast. What was in the past was over. He needed to accept what he had done and he felt that making amends as the White Ranger was the best way to move on from his time as the Green Ranger.

"I'll talk to Zordon about it. Maybe we can take the zords and storm the Moon Palace."

"Jason tried once. Zordon wouldn't let us. He said he'd take our Power Coins if we tried."

Tommy frowned. That didn't make a whole lot of sense. He made a mental note to call Jason later and find out the details of that conversation. The White Ranger would need everything he could get to reason with his leader.

"Anyways," Kim cut in as she stood up. "I didn't get a chance to shower between monster attacks. I need one."

"Okay," her boyfriend said as he continued working on the food.

"You know…" Kim stopped. "Never mind," she amended.

"What?" he inquired as he turned to face her.

Kim walked over to him slowly as she shed her black jacket and tossed it onto the floor. "Well, I was thinking," she began as she wrapped her arms around him from behind and pulled him close. "You could wait to make us breakfast until later."

The White Ranger smirked. "And why would I do that?" he asked in a slow teasing voice.

"Well," she responded in a similar tone. "I'm going to go take my shower. I might need help getting to a few hard to reach spots." They locked eyes and the tension between them amplified a hundred times. "Could you help me with that?"

Tommy gulped. He quickly turned off the stove and dumped the contents of his skillet into the sink. "Let's go," he told her as he took her hand into his own. The two teenagers hurried into the bathroom and quickly slammed the door behind them.

**Notes:**

**A steamy chapter, yes, but unless you guys specifically want me to, I don't think every chapter will be like this. I'm simply trying to portray the dynamics of Tommy and Kimberly's relationship as it will appear in this story. That also brings up the point that this chapter was really Tommy and Kim heavy. I assure you, the other four Rangers will get their page time but this is primarily Tommy's story and therefore Tommy's girlfriend would play a more important role in his character development than the other Rangers, regardless of how close the team has become. **

**Also, any reviews on style would be greatly appreciated in the following chapters. The fight between Goldar and Tommy was short but I would like suggestions and opinions on the fight scenes in future chapters. **

**Thanks guys!**


	2. Return of the Green Ranger

**A Darker Return of the Green Ranger**

**Chapter II: Return of the Green Ranger**

Rocky DeSantos hopped up onto the table where Aisha, Adam, and Billy were currently seated, knocking over their food and creating a mess as drinks spilled in every which direction. Aisha and Billy quickly stood up to avoid spilled soda while Adam was not so lucky. Coka-Cola spilled off of the table and right onto his lap. Remarkably, Rocky didn't make any contact with spilled soda or dipping sauce.

"Why do you think Tommy and Kim ran off so quickly earlier?" he asked his friends as he either ignored or was completely oblivious to their cold stares.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out," Aisha answered with a scowl as she walked away towards the counter to ask Ernie for a towel.

Rocky turned from Adam to Billy. "But they've been doing that for months. Why so eager today after what happened at the hospital?" the Red Ranger asked his friends.

"Last night was their anniversary. I guess things are just getting serious," Billy theorized with a shrug. "Clean up the table, please."

Rocky looked down at the mess he had caused and noticed it for the first. He frowned and picked up a French fry that was not covered in cola and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, a rag flew from out of no where and hit him in the face. All he heard next was Aisha's stern voice saying "Clean! Now!"

Rocky hopped off the table and started to mop up the spilled drinks, while shoving all of the soggy food onto their trays to be disposed. "Aisha, did you know it was Tommy and Kim's anniversary?" he asked as he cleaned.

"She mentioned it to me," the Yellow Ranger responded as she leaned on the table adjacent to theirs while her "leader" mopped up his mess. "Why?"

The young Red Ranger simply shrugged. "Maybe we should do something for them," he suggested.

"I think an anniversary is one of those events where you just say 'congratulations' and forget about it unless you're involved," Adam chipped in.

"I don't think so," his best friend responded as he picked up the dirty trays and started towards a nearby trash can. He quickly threw out the bad food and tossed the trays on the top portion of the trash. "We could buy them gift tickets to go to dinner or something. They couldn't have done that last night. We were too busy fighting Elimigator."

Aisha stopped to contemplate his words and even gave a slight "hmmm." She shrugged. "Why don't you worry about paying us back for the food you just ruined before you go buying Kimberly and Tommy a five star dinner." She fixed him with an expectant glance, which the Red Ranger quickly shrank under.

"I don't have any money," he scoffed as if it were obvious.

"Don't have any money, eh?"

The four Power Rangers sighed at the booming voice of Farkas Bulkmeier as he and Eugene Skullovich approached them. The two renowned bullies strode up to the Rangers slowly and Bulk crossed his arms over his broad chest. "That's funny because I happen to have this!" With that, the larger of the two produced a wad of cash from his pocket.

The four Rangers actually raised their eyebrows at the impressive sum of cash that the bully held in his hand. "Beat up a junior high kid, Bulk?" Billy asked sarcastically.

"No!" the heavier of the two bullies snapped. "I just won this money in a bet."

Skull laughed hysterically at this, as he was prone to do on every occasion. "Yeah. Bulky beat Larry in an arm wrestle and got two hundred big ones!"

"Two hundred?" Rocky repeated.

"Yep," Bulk affirmed proudly.

The Red Ranger cast a glance to his friends and smirked. "I think it's funny that you had to go pick on Larry to find someone you can beat in an arm wrestle," the Red Ranger jeered with a laugh. Billy sighed and rolled his eyes while Adam actually chuckled at the exchange. Aisha crossed her arms, waiting to see how this would play out.

"Excuse me, dweeb?" Bulk grunted as his muscles tensed angrily.

"I bet you couldn't beat me in an arm wrestle," the young Stone Canyon Ninja Champion stated.

"You wanna test that?" Skull asked with a laugh.

"I will break your arm in an arm wrestle," the larger boy insisted angrily.

"You wanna bet two hundred dollars on it?" Adam interjected.

Bulk went quiet and didn't respond right away. He always poked fun at Rocky and his friends but truth be told, Rocky had done pretty damn well some of the local martial arts tournaments. He even kept up with Tommy, who Bulk didn't dare get into a fight with since that incident with Kimberly on Tommy's first day at Angel Grove High. Maybe betting all of his newly earned money on this wouldn't be such a good idea.

Skull had no such reservations. "Of course he'd bet two hundred dollars on it!" the lanky boy snorted with a laugh. "Right Bulky?"

Bulk clenched his fist and silently wanted to punch Skull right in the testicles. He kept his calm, however, and simply turned to Rocky. "You said you didn't have any money," the bully stated. "Why should I put mine down if you don't have anything to bet?"

Before the Red Ranger could respond, Aisha perked up. "Bulk, I'll give you a kiss if you can beat Rocky," she said sweetly as she batted her eyelashes at the two bullies.

Skull's jaw dropped as low as it possibly could. Bulk did a double take. "You'll wha-?" he stammered.

"I will kiss you, right on the lips, if you can beat Rocky in an arm wrestling match."

All of his reservations vanished in that instant. "You're on, dweeb!" he told Rocky as he pointed his finger at him. The large young man took a seat at the Ranger's table and held up his arm, read for the match. The cash fell from his hand and landed in the center of the table. Rocky, in an attempt to make a show out of the event, sat down across from Bulk slowly and put up with arm with equal speed. The two grasped hands and the large wad of cash simply sat between them.

"One," Aisha started.

"Two," Skull continued.

"Three!" Bulk and Rocky cried out together.

Bulk instantly began to apply as much pressure to Rocky's arm as he could. The Red Ranger began to slip and his arm started to go down. Bulk smiled. He was winning. With all of his weight, he pressed his opponent's arm down. Rocky, on the other hand, simply smiled and pretended to put up a fight. He was losing badly but that would only last a couple of seconds. His hand was inches away from the table. Then it was centimeters. Then it was millimeters. And then, with just a jolt of Red Ranger energy, Rocky pulled his arm up and smashed Bulk's right into the table on the opposite side. The match was over.

"Bulky!" Skull cried out.

Rocky laughed as he grabbed the money from off the table. He started to count it dramatically to get under Bulk's skin. It worked. The large boy stood up and turned away. He stormed off angrily, pushing Skull aside as he went.

"Bulky, come back!" Skull called as he ran after his friend.

Rocky turned back to his friend. Adam and Aisha were smiling. Billy was not. The oldest of the four Rangers present held out his hand expectantly. "What?" Rocky asked sheepishly as he met the Blue Ranger's eye.

"Rule number three. Never use your powers for personal gain," he stated.

Rocky scoffed indignantly. "Come on, Billy. He ripped it off anyway! It's not like he deserved it."

"Exactly, which is why you're going to give it to me and I'm going to return it to Larry."

Billy waited for just a moment before the younger Ranger sighed and put the money in his hand. Without saying a word, Billy left to go return to cash to its rightful owner. Rocky, Aisha, and Adam watched him as he went.

"Gosh. What stick's up his-,"

Kimberly Anne Hart smiled slightly as she looked around the small studio apartment. She and Tommy had really done a number on it this time. The place was a mess. Items had been knocked over in every direction. Random knick-knacks were strewn across the floor. Their breakfast remained uncooked in the sink and on the stove. Their clothes were scattered across the floor. Overall, the apartment had been trashed.

"_Worth it," _she thought to herself idly as she thought back on the last couple of hours.

Tommy was asleep beside her and the Pink Ranger wanted to do her best to avoid waking him up. Still, it was almost one and her parents would be expecting her home soon. She had told them that she would be spending the night at Aisha's and if she didn't get home soon, they might start making phone calls. With that thought in mind, the petite young woman pulled the covers off of her and got out of bed. Looking down at her body, she did a quick inspection for hickies or any other condemning marks. Finding none, she got out of bed and stretched her back to get the kinks out. She walked over to Tommy's dressed and opened "her drawer." Inside she kept a few essentials, such as clean clothes, a toothbrush, and anything that she wanted to hide from her parents.

The Pink Ranger dressed quietly in a pair of bright pink shorts and a white blouse and then began to gather her possessions. She tossed the morpher and communicator that sad idly on the dresser into her purse. She then picked up her dirty clothes from the fight and tossed them in his hamper. She and Aisha left clothes at each other's houses all the time. Her parents wouldn't question it if she came home without them. She also picked up the stunning black dress that she had worn the night before for their date and hung it up in his closet to avoid getting any more wrinkles in it.

When she was done, she went over to the bed and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "I love you," she murmured before standing up. The young woman took a moment to admire her sleeping boyfriend. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. It was one of the many reasons she enjoyed spending the night with him. She ran a hand down his cheek.

"You're doing a bad job not waking me up," the White Ranger muttered to her playfully.

Kimberly smiled. "I have to go," she told him. "I'm sorry."

Tommy opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Don't be," he replied as he took her hand into his own. "I'll see you later on."

"We still going bowling with the guys?"

He nodded. "Definitely," he answered.

"Kay. I'll see you then."

The young couple kissed one last time before Kimberly stood up. With that, the Pink Ranger picked up her purse and exited the small apartment. Tommy sat up and looked at all of the chaos around him.

"If Mom and Dad saw this, they'd stop paying for this place in a heartbeat," he said to no one in particular. With a shrug, he got out of bed and prepared to start cleaning.

On the moon palace, the Black Wizard and the cloned Tommy Oliver walked into the lookout room where Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa were idly waiting. The Empress of Evil perked up at seeing the two. She stood from her husband's lap and approached the pair quickly. She placed a hand on the clone's and looked up into his eyes.

"How are you?" she asked him genuinely.

"I'm alright," he answered with a curt nod.

Rita smiled and turned back to her husband. "This was the best plan we've ever had!" she shrieked as she walked back to the evil monarch. "I bet that idiot Dark Specter would never have come up with something so perfect!"

"Yes, my love. It is truly brilliant. But what of the new Power Coin, Wizard? Is it ready?"

The wizard sighed. He reached into the folds of his robes and pulled forth a small golden coin, identical to the original Green Power Coin. A smile cracked over Rita's features while Zedd began to laugh manically. The wizard waited for them to subside before he shook his head. He closed his hand over the coin and crossed his arms.

"The coin is not enough, masters," he informed them.

Zedd and Rita both stopped. "What?" The two monarchs of evil cast their wizard a dark look, which the centuries old mage did not even begin to flinch under. He knew that even in their deepest fury, Rita and Zedd needed him and therefore, he had virtually unlimited protection from their wrath. Still, they were also impulsive and he didn't want to be on the wrong end of an energy blast if he had miscalculated their tolerance towards him.

"The Green Candle never completely siphoned all of the Green Ranger's powers," he explained. "I've imbued what energy there was into the new Power Coin. Tommy here can morph but his powers will be substantially weaker than those of the other Power Rangers. He wouldn't be able to destroy one, let alone all six."

"Ugh! Rita, you incompetent excuse of a woman!" Zedd snarled as he pushed his wife away from him. "If you hadn't ruined the wax from that candle, our plan would be ready to go into action now!"

Rita growled slightly in response. "Me?" she shrieked in her high pitched tone. "My candle gave us a Green Ranger! What about the rest of the power, Zeddie?" She fixed him with a dark glare that did nothing to hide an accusation.

Zedd turned his anger back to the Wizard. He knew that Rita wasn't wrong. It had been his Turbanshell monster that had possessed the rest of the energy they needed. Unfortunately, the Power Rangers had killed the siphon monster before a transfer could be completed. Moreover, the plan to fuel his Dark Rangers had gone horribly wrong, which had made matters worse. Overall, the situation was more his fault than hers. He would never admit that, though. Instead, the Dark Lord marched up to the wizard and Tommy clone. "Is there anything that you can do in order to make the Power Coin stronger?" he demanded.

"Well," the Black Wizard answered slowly, considering the question with great care. "There are a couple of options available, I suppose."

"Tell me!" Zedd boomed angrily.

The Tommy clone back away ever so slightly at his master's fury. The wizard didn't react at all. Instead, he simply answered the question with an entirely straight and even composure. "As you may recall, when the original Green Ranger had to make due with only power left in his Power Coin after your wife's attempt to steal his powers. That was a little less than half. In order to make up the difference, Zordon of Eltar gave his own life force to re-energize his Ranger."

Zedd frowned. "The Green Ranger could barely hold his own in battle at that point! You expect me to send in my greatest warrior when his powers could disappear at any moment!"

Beneath his mask, the Wizard smirked to himself. That excuse had been quick thinking on Zedd's part. He knew that the Emperor of Evil didn't really give much concern to "his greatest warrior." He just didn't want to risk using his own life force to power the Green Ranger. Doing so would leave him vulnerable to any potential usurpers out there. Dark Spectre, Divatox, the Machine Empire, and possibly even Rita would love to see the Emperor of Evil indisposed for even a minute. Still, it wasn't his place to judge his master openly. He simply logged the information away for future use.

The Wizard smirked and simply held his hand out to the Tommy clone, offering him his new Power Coin. The clone took the coin. It felt warm in his hand and a small spark of green energy went off. The spark danced across the smooth surface of the small disc before subsiding. The clone placed a finger on the small, tri-point marking and traced it. With a smirk, he closed his hand over the coin and let the warm sensation run over him for a moment. The power felt good. It felt like small sparks danced in his blood and urged him to fight. He wanted nothing more than to satisfy that urge. Mental images began to flash through his mind of a battle between the Green Ranger and the White Ranger. The two titans would clash in the midst of thousands of people and the world would know beyond any reasonable doubt who was the true Power Ranger.

"Are you ready to prove yourself, Tommy?" the Wizard asked him, interrupting his mild day dream.

"Yes!" the new Green Ranger responded eagerly. "Let me take on the Power Rangers! I'll crush them!"

"Not in your present condition, you won't," the Wizard warned. He turned back to the two monarchs. "I say that we cripple the Rangers and power up our own at the same time."

"What are you getting at, Wizard?" Rita demanded as she passed her scepter from her off hand to her dominant one.

"Only one with a Power Coin can enter the Rangers Command Center. We send Tommy in to infiltrate the Command Center. Once inside, he can reclaim the Dragon Dagger and drain Zordon of his power in order to make the coin stronger."

"But will the coin hold the energy that we steal from Zordon or will it simply fade away."

"If Tommy can get back here fast enough, I can perform a spell which will seal Zordon's energy inside of the Power Coin. The Green Ranger will be stronger than ever!"

"Excellent," Zedd responded as he considered the plan. "Tommy, do you feel up to it now?"

"Yes, Lord Zedd," the Green Ranger answered with a curt nod. "Zordon won't even know what hit him."

"I suppose, as the Rangers like to say, it's morphing time," Rita stated as she came down from the throne and approached her new Ranger. The Empress reached into her long gown and from within one of the pockets she produced a small device. "I had Finster build this when Zeddie and I started talking about creating our own Power Ranger. It's your morpher."

Tommy took the device and examined it carefully for a moment before dropping his coin in the center receptacle. The morpher and coin instantly bonded to one another and an aura of green light encompassed them for just a moment before it subsided. The clone extended his arms outward and pressed the red button on the side of his new toy. A rush of energy surged through him as his new powers coursed through his body.

"Dragonzord!" he called out unwittingly.

Inside of the Power Ranger's Command Center, Alpha 5 gave a confused "hmmm" as the small android bent over a console and began pressing buttons. "Aye aye aye aye aye!" he exclaimed. "Zordon, I don't understand. The reports from the hospital are in but nothing appears to have been taken except for a case of blood that had been donated in the life drive two days ago!"

The neon energy tubes at the side of the energy cylinder at the heart of the base sprang to life and Zordon of Eltar appeared in his prison. "I know, Alpha. I can only assume that Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd have gone so far as to consider using blood magic against us."

"Blood Magic? But Zordon! The secrets of Blood Magic have been lost for centuries!"

"Perhaps we were wrong," the ancient being suggested.

Before the conversation could continue, a swirling jet of emerald green energy descended into the center of the room and the Green Ranger stood there when it dissipated. In his energy prison, Zordon's eyes went wide. Alpha spun around and his photoreceptors flashed brightly.

"Aye aye aye! Intruder!" the small android called out as he went for the console that controlled the base's defenses.

"Oh no you don't!" the Green Ranger shouted and he rushed to intercept the android. The cloned Power Ranger delivered a swift kick to Alpha's chest plate, which sent the little guy sprawling backward and onto the floor. Tommy moved in on Alpha and lifted the robot into the air by the leg and back. "Stay out of my way!" With that, the intruder hurled Alpha across the room. The android cried out in fear as he soared through the air and crashed directly into the viewing globe. It shattered on impact and surges of electricity burst out in all directions. The tendrils of lightning that were near Alpha spiked across his small body. His high pitched "aye aye aye's" slowly became deeper and less coherent until finally the electric surge subsided and his small voice was no more.

Tommy smirked at what he had done beneath his helmet before turning to face Zordon.

"So you're Zordon on Eltar?" he asked idly as he reached up and unclipped the restraints on his helmet. "My name's Tommy," he introduced as he pulled the Green Ranger's helmet off of his head and revealed his features. "It's nice to meet you."

"This cannot be. You are not Tommy!" Zordon protested.

"Oh but I am, old man."

"So this is how far Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa would go. They've violated the sanctity of life to create a clone."

"That's right," Tommy confirmed with a nod as he set his helmet down. "Now you stay quiet while I have some work to do."

The Green Ranger walked over to the command console nearest Zordon and began typing in search commands. As he did this, the ancient man in the tube redirected his attention to his fallen friend.

"Alpha 5, are you alright? Alpha 5, can you hear me?"

"Your little robot friend is dead," Tommy snarled as he found what he wanted. "And this is a nice setup that you've got here. All I have to do is press this button-" he pressed a small cerulean node. "-and this appears."

The Dragon Dagger, retired for almost six months now, appeared in his hands. The Green Ranger smirked as he ran a gloved hand over the contours of the blade and admired its craftsmanship. "Beautiful," he murmured. With delicate care of a warrior in love with his weapon, the Green Ranger placed it in the black sheath on his hip and turned back to Zordon.

"This is the part where you go away now," he informed the Ranger's mentor. Reaching down, the clone plucked the newly fashioned Power Coin from his belt and looked up at Zordon. The Green Ranger smirked darkly as he moved to another console and typed in a few commands. It took him a moment to figure out the base's technology but he managed to find what he was looking for after a bit.

"Tommy, stop. You don't have to do as Rita and Zedd command."

"Shut up," the Green Ranger snapped at him. "I do this because I want to. Rita and Zedd care about conquering this planet. I just want the White Ranger gone."

"And then what?" Zordon inquired. "Once the real Tommy is dead, what do you plan on doing then?"

"Whatever I want," the Green Ranger answered. "If that happens to coincide with what Rita and Zedd want, that's fine by me." With a mechanical drawl, a small disk shaped receptacle popped up out of the console that Tommy was working with and a smile danced across his lips. "I need a little pick me up." The clone placed his Power Coin in the receptacle. Instantly, the lights in the room began to dim and Zordon cried out in pain. Electricity surged through the consoles. Some of them overloaded and exploded but the one that the coin was plugged into remained stable.

The cloned Green Ranger began to laugh. It was a laugh that Zordon had heard before and had prayed that he would never have to hear again. The Evil Green Ranger had returned. The Power Ranger's mentor's last thoughts before he faded from the Command Center were filled with despair. Rita and Zedd may very well have defeated the Power Rangers at last. They would have no way of knowing that a clone that looked identical to one of them was behind the chaos and destruction of the Command Center. And with that, Zordon of Eltar faded from this reality.


End file.
